The Collected Stories of Rumpole

by John Mortimer

Horace Rumpole - witty, eloquent, dishevelled and cynical - is one of fiction's best-loved barristers-at-law. In these twenty classic tales, Rumpole battles through the Old Bailey, whether defending various members of an incompetent South London crime family, taking on haute-cuisine chefs and showfolk or mocking the pomposity of his own profession, all the while being held in check by his wife, Hilda: the wonderful, fearsome She Who Must Be Obeyed.

These collected stories, in Penguin Modern Classics for the first time, are a definitive introduction to one of the wisest and wittiest characters in British comic writing and a reminder of what justice should really be about. With a new introduction by Sam Leith, former literary editor of the Daily Telegraph and contributor to the Evening Standard, Guardian and Spectator.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Humor, Mystery, Satire

646 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 1, 2013

About the author

John Clifford Mortimer was a novelist, playwright and former practising barrister. Among his many publications are several volumes of Rumpole stories and a trilogy of political novels, Paradise Postponed, Titmuss Regained and The Sound of Trumpets, featuring Leslie Titmuss - a character as brilliant as Rumpole. John Mortimer received a knighthood for his services to the arts in 1998.

Series:
Rumpole of the Bailey
Rapstone Chronicles

Reviews

[Mervyn Whyte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, so far. I wish I'd read these years ago. I'm only one third of the way through, but they are amazing. Very Wodehousean in style. Still, if you're going to copy someone's style, you might as well go with the master's. If you're from the younger generation you may feel there's a slight misogynistic strain running through them. But I'm not from that generation, and I can see the humour rather than the malice. Anyway, back to it. And back to it with relish...

Utter joy. Each story is so tightly and brilliantly written. The dialogue and characterisation is pitch-perfect, and turn Horace Rumpole into one of the iconic figures of English literature. The best thing is, they're only 20 stories in this omnibus. Another 60 to go. Lovely.

[David Bisset · Rating 5 out of 5]

Compile is a Modern Classic

This is a delightful collection of Rumpole short stories. Turnpike has his own moral principles which are not always those of the Law Courts. The principal one is that everyone is innocent until proven guilty. Mortimer knows the legal world, and reveals its manifest absurdities. Every story has an ingenious twist. But what legal character ever surpassed Rumpole?

[Robin Colesmith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy to see why Rumpole is such an enduring character. Other than some outdated gender tropes, the stories read very well. As they are in chronological order, it’s interesting to see the tone shift from very straight legal drama to more fun.
Apparently written from the tv show (not the other way around) but well written and enjoyable.

[John Mead · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent entertainment

A classic. An Idiosyncratic barrister who fights for justice, if not always by legal correctness, whilst lampooning the legal system.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

A hug in a mug in a book

Thoroughly enjoyed this collection, incomplete though it is from what I'm told. True it rarely deviates from the the authors set structure but upon these bare bones there is a body of storytelling replete with a certain charm, warmth and wit.

The characters well sketched, the plots never overwrought. There is a pleasing economy to the prose that never overstays its welcome.

Rumpole himself may distinctly be of another age and place but reading these stories for the first time in 2019, it's not difficult to recognise the timeless undercurrents of his ongoing battles with the establishment.

So yeah, not a complete collection to be sure but a worthy one nonetheless.

[BrokenTune · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Collected Stories of Rumpole is a fun collection of stories to get to know Rumpole as a character, but the things I enjoy most about the stories are not the cases Rumpole takes on but his interactions with his fellow characters, and the stories make a lot more sense and provide a lot more enjoyment when read in order and when we get to know more about Rumpole's friends and family and learned friends and judges. And much of this is missing for me in The Collected Stories because the collection seems to focus on the cases more than the characters.

Still, it's a great collection to pick up as an introduction to Rumpole.

[John Hardy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Twenty short stories, told in a light, witty, ironic style reminiscent of PG Wodehouse and John Mortimer.
Junior Barrister Rumpole is witty, dishevelled, cynical, and as cunning as a shithouse rat. He loves a cold drink on a hot day, as we say in Oz, he loves correcting people, loves a courtroom battle, and he loves to win. He HATES to lose. He likes to talk in Shakespeare quotes, and drops in French phrases every now and then. He often mumbles some insulting comment, and, when challenged, supplies a different comment which sounds a bit like the original. Here's an example NOT taken from the stories-
A says "Tickle your bum with a feather."
B says "What did you say?"
A responds "Particularly nasty weather."
This is a running joke, often in the courtroom.
The stories all follow a rough formula. Rumpole reminisces, there is some form of meeting or event giving rise to a case, R is briefed. There will be drinks with various people at Pommeroy's, then a courtroom action with R defending. At some point, a witness or vital clue is miraculously found, an R wins the case. Note though, that even if he LOSES the case, it seems as though he has won.
He often employs Fig as a private detective, to conduct surveillance of certain persons, and these observations often are key to winning the case.
Rumpole is married to Hilda, the daughter of R's old "mentor", but he refers to her as SHE-WHO-MUST-BE-OBEYED. The reference is to H. Rider Haggard's character Ayesha. It's hard to imagine why these two stay together. There are several running jokes -
R comes home
H: "Is that you, Rumpole?"
R: "No, he'll be home later."
Hilda reads until late at night - R says "Any chance of turning out the light?" The answer is never yes.
The courtroom scenes and R's interactions with witnesses, prosecutors and judges are classics of humour. R has more front than a rat with a gold tooth, and never backs down from challenges to his questioning. He seems so innocent and kind in his manner, then ambushes the target with hidden knowledge, or bold guesses. They often fold and admit everything. R never fails to play to the jury, since strict truth does not always win the day.
Rumpole is always defending counsel, never the prosecutor. He defends crime of all types, except libel, or shall we just say all types? Although the most sordid of crimes may be mentioned in discussions, there is NEVER anything sordid in the prose. These stories were apparently all written AFTER the TV series, some of which are available on Youtube and well worth a watch.
I seem to have gone on and on with this review. Trying to decide what else to put in, I instead decided to stop. There were more than 600 pages of a rather small font, so I took several days to finish this. All I have said is positive. Sometimes the wittiness, the repartee, the running jokes, and the various formulaic elements gave a negative feel. Therefore I'm downgrading this to a rating of 4.7.

[Dobby · Rating 4 out of 5]

For those who watched the television series of Rumpole of the Bailey in the ‘70s the stories are impossible to read without seeing Leo McKern as the title role. He made it his own and was completely convincing as the extrovert ‘character’ barrister.
So upon visiting the original in this series of stories Portia, Erskin-Brown et al come flooding back and I don’t think that’s a bad thing.
It has definitely been a ‘comfort read’ and the charm of Rumpole’s appreciation for those petty criminals who keep him employed is heartwarming.
His constant battles with the judges who seem biased towards the prosecution are delightful and despite the ambitions of She Who Must be Obeyed he is regularly overlooked for promotion or advancement. But that doesn’t bother him. Rumpole just wants to be himself and enjoy a regular glass of Chateaux Taff Embankment in peace.
A lovely nostalgic walk through a different time of innocence (until proven guilty!)

[Ploni Almoni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rumpole is Rumpole. More than that? Sexist, self-important, ridiculous old fellow. Mortimer, I suspect, was similar. But so very, very readable. Comfort food.

[Stan Salmon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rumpole is sharp highly intelligent and has a biting wit,
I highly recommend this and other Rumpole books.

[Fatihah · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is absolutely no flaw with Rumpole's narrations; entertaining interesting funny witty colorful and manned with solid characters.

Legal frat, I will come again! This is NOT a goodbye.

[Tejas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious, Fantastic, Unputdownable. The perfect gift for any Law student who likes Wodehouse. Will be re-reading this soon enough.